Glagolitic script

The Glagolitic script ( GLAG-ə-LIT-ik; ⰳⰾⰰⰳⱁⰾⰻⱌⰰ, glagolitsa) is the oldest-known Slavic alphabet. It is generally agreed that it was created in the 9th century for the purpose of translating liturgical texts into Old Church Slavonic by Cyril, a Christian monk from Thessalonica. He and his brother Methodius were sent by the Byzantine Emperor to Great Moravia as missionaries. After the deaths of Cyril and Methodius, their disciples were expelled from Moravia, and they moved to the First Bulgarian Empire instead. The Early Cyrillic alphabet, which was developed gradually in the Preslav Literary School by scribes who incorporated some Glagolitic letters when writing in the Greek alphabet, gradually replaced Glagolitic in that region. Glagolitic remained in use alongside the Cyrillic and Latin script in the Kingdom of Croatia and Dalmatia and alongside Cyrillic until the 14th century in the Second Bulgarian Empire and the Serbian Empire; in later periods, its use in its eastern range was mainly for cryptographic purposes.